4 ms·

I hired a programmer and after giving him his Linux laptop let him set up a few things. A couple hours later he asked me where he could get PuTTY for it, and I

by hughw 3mo ago

I hired a programmer and after giving him his Linux laptop let him set up a few things. A couple hours later he asked me where he could get PuTTY for it, and I recognized a huge gap in my interview coverage.

syntheticnature 3mo ago
Indeed, a new hire should be able to use Google to find https://puttygen.com/download-putty#Download_PuTTY_on_Linux_and_Installation_Guide https://puttygen.com/download-putty#Download_PuTTY_on_Linux_... in short order evil grin
- hughw 3mo ago
  multiple issues right
- petee 3mo ago
  https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ puttygen.com looks super fishy, the disclaimer: > Puttygen software is not created, nor supported by Puttygen.com. The program has been tested and is believed to be safe. [...] The use of Puttygen through Puttygen.com is done at your own discretion and risk Edit: or is that the evil grin?
- glitchc 3mo ago
  apt install putty seems... useful? Don't get it.
  - YoshiRulz 3mo ago
    PuTTY is (or was, in the years before WSL) the go-to SSH client for Windows. If you're a Windows user getting onboarded at a job / uni class which uses Linux machines, installing it is the first thing you'd be told. The laptop in question would obviously have a terminal emulator and SSH client pre-installed, but a Windows user wouldn't think to look for them, and they might not even know that SSH exists outside of PuTTY or that it's a separate concept to the terminal.
    - glitchc 3mo ago
      Sure, I'm well-aware, and am also aware that someone familiar with a GUI-based way of doing something on one OS may seek the same, or similar, GUI on another (new) OS. It's a familiar anchor in a sea of unknown, a natural thing to do for most users. I still don't follow the evil grin. Is the apt package some kind of malware or trojan?
      - frollogaston 3mo ago
        It's nothing evil, it's just Putty for Linux, and they say why you might want it. Mostly for people coming from Windows, but supposedly it can also deal with raw sockets that OpenSSH can't.
- Garlef 3mo ago
  or just ask an llm
macrocosmos 3mo ago
I dislike this story and it’s because I can believe it.
frollogaston 3mo ago
Gotta auto-reject anyone listing Windows experience on resume
- em-bee 3mo ago
  works for me. are you hiring? :-)
- pdntspa 3mo ago
  wow, what a way to prejudice against people fluent in multiple paradigms
analog_daddy 3mo ago
Any experience with ‘programmers’ not knowing git?
- AussieWog93 3mo ago
  Honestly, I suspect you'd find a lot of self-taught people have random gaps in their knowledge that someone with a mentor/degree won't.
  - pvdebbe 3mo ago
    I had a linguist attend a CS class and he didn't know how to copy and paste.
- connicpu 3mo ago
  When I went to college (early 2010s) professors were still encouraging students to use SVN, so I probably have a fair number of peers who didn't learn git until they got out into the real world
  - fragmede 3mo ago
    Was the encouragement to use SVN to the detriment of git, or was it to the detriment of renaming the file multiple times, from final to final (1).zip to final-no-really-this-is-it.zip?
    - connicpu 3mo ago
      It was more that IT considered the college-hosted git instance "experimental" still, in multiple project courses we were required to use college hosted version control as part of the class, but those who wanted to use git were on their own to figure it out.
- sdfsdfs34dfsdf 3mo ago
  That's more ageism than anything else. I mean surely real "programmers" know the new hotness "ghsfgusdfu", right? How could you live without? I know companies running on SVN and they're fine. In fact, it's a better fit for them. Yes, Git is not always superior. I'll give you a helpful concept to navigate these issues: "Cargo culting refers to the practice of imitating the superficial aspects of a process or practice without understanding the underlying logic or reasons behind it. This phenomenon is often seen in software development, where developers may adopt certain coding styles or methodologies without grasping their true purpose."
walrus01 3mo ago
Ever hired someone who, when you ask them to send you an ssh key for access to something, sends you their private key? Yeah, that's happened more than once.
- fragmede 3mo ago
  Who's sending ssh keys around anymore? Just get theirs off gitHub.com/username.keys and shove it in their user account. http://gitHub.com/fragmede.keys http://gitHub.com/fragmede.keys, for example. Stick that in authorized_keys to let me into your server.
  - tryauuum 3mo ago
    this touches two pieces of my knowledge: - microsoft is evil, I cannot delete my github account, will never use anything by this company - if the attacker knows your *public* key they can enumerate the list of the servers you have access to https://github.com/benjojo/ssh-key-confirmer
  - walrus01 3mo ago
    Not everyone works in a field where the developers or engineers have public github accounts or publish their profile of things like ssh keys for the world to read.

by hughw 3mo ago

syntheticnature 3mo ago

Indeed, a new hire should be able to use Google to find https://puttygen.com/download-putty#Download_PuTTY_on_Linux_and_Installation_Guide https://puttygen.com/download-putty#Download_PuTTY_on_Linux_... in short order evil grin

hughw 3mo ago
multiple issues right
petee 3mo ago
https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ puttygen.com looks super fishy, the disclaimer: > Puttygen software is not created, nor supported by Puttygen.com. The program has been tested and is believed to be safe. [...] The use of Puttygen through Puttygen.com is done at your own discretion and risk Edit: or is that the evil grin?
glitchc 3mo ago
apt install putty seems... useful? Don't get it.
- YoshiRulz 3mo ago
  PuTTY is (or was, in the years before WSL) the go-to SSH client for Windows. If you're a Windows user getting onboarded at a job / uni class which uses Linux machines, installing it is the first thing you'd be told. The laptop in question would obviously have a terminal emulator and SSH client pre-installed, but a Windows user wouldn't think to look for them, and they might not even know that SSH exists outside of PuTTY or that it's a separate concept to the terminal.
  - glitchc 3mo ago
    Sure, I'm well-aware, and am also aware that someone familiar with a GUI-based way of doing something on one OS may seek the same, or similar, GUI on another (new) OS. It's a familiar anchor in a sea of unknown, a natural thing to do for most users. I still don't follow the evil grin. Is the apt package some kind of malware or trojan?
    - frollogaston 3mo ago
      It's nothing evil, it's just Putty for Linux, and they say why you might want it. Mostly for people coming from Windows, but supposedly it can also deal with raw sockets that OpenSSH can't.
Garlef 3mo ago
or just ask an llm

macrocosmos 3mo ago

I dislike this story and it’s because I can believe it.

frollogaston 3mo ago

Gotta auto-reject anyone listing Windows experience on resume

em-bee 3mo ago
works for me. are you hiring? :-)
pdntspa 3mo ago
wow, what a way to prejudice against people fluent in multiple paradigms

analog_daddy 3mo ago

Any experience with ‘programmers’ not knowing git?

AussieWog93 3mo ago
Honestly, I suspect you'd find a lot of self-taught people have random gaps in their knowledge that someone with a mentor/degree won't.
- pvdebbe 3mo ago
  I had a linguist attend a CS class and he didn't know how to copy and paste.
connicpu 3mo ago
When I went to college (early 2010s) professors were still encouraging students to use SVN, so I probably have a fair number of peers who didn't learn git until they got out into the real world
- fragmede 3mo ago
  Was the encouragement to use SVN to the detriment of git, or was it to the detriment of renaming the file multiple times, from final to final (1).zip to final-no-really-this-is-it.zip?
  - connicpu 3mo ago
    It was more that IT considered the college-hosted git instance "experimental" still, in multiple project courses we were required to use college hosted version control as part of the class, but those who wanted to use git were on their own to figure it out.
sdfsdfs34dfsdf 3mo ago
That's more ageism than anything else. I mean surely real "programmers" know the new hotness "ghsfgusdfu", right? How could you live without? I know companies running on SVN and they're fine. In fact, it's a better fit for them. Yes, Git is not always superior. I'll give you a helpful concept to navigate these issues: "Cargo culting refers to the practice of imitating the superficial aspects of a process or practice without understanding the underlying logic or reasons behind it. This phenomenon is often seen in software development, where developers may adopt certain coding styles or methodologies without grasping their true purpose."

walrus01 3mo ago

Ever hired someone who, when you ask them to send you an ssh key for access to something, sends you their private key? Yeah, that's happened more than once.

fragmede 3mo ago
Who's sending ssh keys around anymore? Just get theirs off gitHub.com/username.keys and shove it in their user account. http://gitHub.com/fragmede.keys http://gitHub.com/fragmede.keys, for example. Stick that in authorized_keys to let me into your server.
- tryauuum 3mo ago
  this touches two pieces of my knowledge: - microsoft is evil, I cannot delete my github account, will never use anything by this company - if the attacker knows your *public* key they can enumerate the list of the servers you have access to https://github.com/benjojo/ssh-key-confirmer
- walrus01 3mo ago
  Not everyone works in a field where the developers or engineers have public github accounts or publish their profile of things like ssh keys for the world to read.